A Northern Harrier on the hunt is a beautiful sight: with wings held high, it seems to hover over the grassland, only a few feet above the ground, looking and listening for prey. The harrier is in the same family as our more common hawks, such as Red-tailed Hawks and Cooper’s Hawks, but it is a very different bird in many ways. The most immediately distinctive feature is its face, which is flattened and reminiscent of an owl’s. Unlike many diurnal raptors, the Northern Harrier relies heavily on its hearing to locate prey hidden in tall grass; its short face is covered with stiff feathers to help direct sound. Harriers also differ from many raptors in their nesting behavior, nesting on the ground rather than in trees. Northern Harriers were once called “good hawks” because (unlike most large raptors) they do not prey on poultry, and indeed hunt mice, rats, and voles that may eat eggs!

Compiled by Owen Moorhead. Sources include the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. Image courtesy of Steven Sachs via National Audubon Society.

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